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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Thursday, August It IomLiil 19, 1982 I is l. llo!U Group Says 10 Reactors Below Average o in Safety By Matt Yancey Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions staff, in a coded internal memorandum, said 10 of the nations 74 commercial nuclear reactors had far below average safety records in 1981. An additional 12 plants were cited for below average safety. Details of the memo, dated Dec. 28, 1981, were disclosed Wednesday in an evaluation by the Critical Mass Energy Project of the 4,060 mishaps reported to the NRC last year. The group obtained the document through the Freedom of Information Act. Critical Mass, a branch of Ralph Naders Public Citizen Inc., said that while thousands of the mishaps involved relatively minor problems, 140 of them were singled oat by the NRC and the nuclear industry as being "especially significant. The study by the group blamed 62 percent of the mishaps on equipment failures, 19 percent on human error, 13 percent on design or fabrication and 6 percent on other causes. Disproves Industry Claims The track record disproves industry claims that nuclear power provides reliable, safe and abundant energy, said Richard Udell, the author of the Critical Mass study. Carlyle Michelson, director of the NRCs Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data, said he doesn't agree with some of the studys anti-nucle- ar conclusions but he called it a significant document. Theyre grinding a particular ax, so they slant the situation somewhat, Michelson said. But theyre quite right on the significance of some of these events. Clearly if you build more and more complex machines, its obvious youre increasing the odds of a serious mishap. With more cars on the road, theres more chance of an accident. But that doesnt mean the rates increasing, he said. The Atomic Industrial Forum, a nuclear industry trade group, said the utility reports filed with the NRC and cited by Critical Mass have helped maintain the exemplary safety record oPcommerical nuclear power for more than 25 years. To use these raw reports for the purpose of alleging laxness is a gross distortion of reality, the group said Citing NRC documents, the Critical Mass report said 83,439 workers in the nuclear power industry were exposed to measurable amounts of radiation last year while bomb threats, sabotage and other security breaches were reported at 16 operating plants It said the 74 licensed reactors operated at an average of only 59 percent of capacity. Critical Mass noted that its own rankings of plants according to the number and severity of mishaps reported to the NRC "closely parallels a September 1981 assessment of the plants by the government agency and the rankings in the NRC memo last December. Memo Ranks Plants The memo, from the commissions safety assessment branch to Licensing Director Darrell Eisenhut, ranked the plants according to the number and severity of mishaps between Dec. 13, 1980 and Oct. 7, 1981. The memo was compiled from the records of weekly meetings of NRC staff members on the safety significance of events reported by utilities the previous week. Each event was based 0, 1, 2, 3 given a coded rating on its significance. The ranking of each plant in the memo was based on the total number of reported events in each category. Listed as far below average were Duquesne Light Co.s Beaver Valley 1 reactor at Shippingport, Pa. ; Carolina Power & Light Co.s Brunswick 1 and 2 reactors at Southport, N C., and Robinson 2 reactor at Hartsville, S.C.; Toledo Edisons Davis Besse 1 reactor at Oak Harbor, Ohio; Northeast Utilities Millstone 1 and 2 reactors at Waterford, Conn. ; Southern California Edison's San Onofre 1 reactor at San Clemente, Calif., and the Tennessee Valley Authoritys Sequoyah 1 and 2 reactors at Daisy, Term. Valve Was Sabotaged Joseph Sasala, a spokesman for Duquesne Light, said a plant's Safetys cannot be determined by the number of event reports. But he said the procedures at Beaver Valley were changed after a valve was sabotaged at the plant in July 1981. The Critical Mass study called the sabotage one of the most serious in the history of nuclear power. Liberals Win Preliminary Victory Over Social Measures by Helms By Mike Shanahan Associated Press Writer WASHLNGTON Liberals won an impressive preliminary victory Wednesday in the Senates increasingly tense battle over efforts to sharply restrict legalized abortion and put prayer back in public schools. disclosed Conservative Sen. Jesse Helms, for the first time the contents of his measure, and introduced a school prayer amendment as well. and Max Liberal Sens. Lowell Weicker, countered by proposing their own Baucus, legislation declaring that it is the job of the federal to rule on constitutional and not Congress courts Issues surrounding prayer or abortion. Helms moved to table, or set aside, the liberal measure, and lost As a result of the vote, Weicker declared victory and said conservative efforts to enact changes in national policy on social questions like abortion, school prayer and busing for desegregation were dead this year. "I dont think the social issues are going anywhere," Weicker said. They are dead." anti-aborti- 59-3- 8. Personally, I think he was only joking when he said we had to buy him a cheeseburger and milk shake for a ride home! Senate Report Abscam Due Process Confirmed at various. viction (UPI) The FBI could have done a better job investigating Abscam but control changed materially events that led to bribery convictions for seven members of Congress, a Senate committee said Wednesday. counsel to the panel which was created as part of the deal in which Sen. Harrison Williams, WASHLNGTON no-thi- agents "Much of the information in the FBI confidential files suggests that the Abscam investigation been conducted have with more effective supervision, management and in the Abscam affair. The report was done by did James Neal, special "Our review revealed no information that in our judgment, under the current state of the law, would have materially affected the critical factfinding process involved in any of the Abscam trials or due process the special hearings, committee said. could practicably levels. resigned this spring following his con Neal, a prosecutor in the Watergate cover-u- p investigation, sifted through 70 volumes of confidential federal files before making the report, which is to be followed at some point by In Father's Footsteps Reuter News Agency ANEW YORK lthough the two young men do not start work until Monday as assistant Manhattan district attorneys, the press already is demanding interviews. The two new assistant D.A.s are Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the assassinated former New York senator and presidential candidate, and Cyrus Vance Jr., the son of the former secretary of state. The two are among 55 new assistant district attorneys who will Work under Manhattan trict Attorney Dis- Robert Morgenthau, the son of President Franklin Roosevelts treasury secretary. Morgenthau has ruled out interviews for the two, saying they should be treated just like everyone else. recommendations from the senators on the Committee for Legislative Changes. Following the Abscam arrests, many lawmakers claimed the FBI had entrapped lawmakers by putting them in a situation they would not have any reason to be in and offering a bribe. The report found the government was not as careful as it claimed in who it offered to bribe. In reply. Helms said "Nothing happened to validate the outrageous suggestion that it (the social issues fight) is over In an interview. Helms said because of the complicated parliamentary situation, many senators were unsure of what the issue was during Wednesdays vote. Accusations that his proposals are unconstitutional attacks on the federal judiciary are wrong. Helms said Right and Duty The Congress has not only the right but the duty to limit the jurisdiction of the courts, he said. The Weicker-Baucu- s proposal showed that the tactic to be used by liberals in the (social issues fight) will focus not on the merits of legalized abortion or prayer in schools, but on the constitutionality of amendments supported by Helms and his hard-lin- e conservative followers. Despite the optimism among liberals, the battle was far from over, and debate seemed certain to spill over into September, when the Congress returns from a Labor Day recess that begins at week's end. Sen. Paul Tsongas, referred personally to Helms. I find it ironic ... that someone with a flag in his lapel would propose something which would eviscerate the Constitution, he said. Helms had no specific response, but recalled that the Senate earlier this year approved an extension of the Voting Rights Act, which sought to correct a previous Supreme Court ruling on minority voting rights. Helms proposed Wednesday a congressional finding that scientific evidence demonstrates the life of each human being begins at conception. Helms measure would declare that the justices erred in excluding unborn children from the safeguards afforded by the equal protection and due process provisions of the Constitution. It includes broad prohibitions on the use of federal funds for abortions, including research and training of medical students in federally funded medical long-delay- schools. Permit Direct Appeal No health insurance policy paid with federal funds could be used for abortions. The proposal also would permit a direct appeal to the Supreme Court for any abortion-relate- d bills general practice in the passed by state legislatures or rulings by state Abscam operation was to courts. Helms legislation is weaker than a rely upon the uncorroborated representation of Human Life Bill that would lock into federal law a middlemen that specified declaration that a fetus has constutional rights, and thus is protected from abortion under the 14th public officials would acAmendment of the Constitution. cept bribes. These repThe conservative leader conceded that the human resentations were usually uncorroborated in life bill would fail in the Senate, and he has been trying for three days to find an alternative that would every sense of the word, attract enough votes to clear the chamber. the report said. "The governments fi Sale Ends Aug. 25, 1982 Save on these Posture Series sets. While Quantities Last! Posture Flo II flotation system. 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